Glen Worthey, Chair
Emma Huber (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
Frank Egerton (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
Short abstract:
The Taylorian uses Digital Humanities teaching initiatives in order to lower barriers to engaging in digital methods and raise the profile of librarians as skilled DH advisors.
Long abstract:
The Taylor Institution has created a number of innovative Digital Humanities teaching initiatives over the past year, aimed primarily at graduate students and early career researchers, in order to lower barriers to engaging in digital methods. These initiatives include a popular Digital Editions course (running for the last three terms at full capacity), a Humanities Coding Club, and an Introduction to Digital Humanities course (see https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/taylor/about/courses-and-training - the last two are being run for the first time from April 2019). These courses give students the skills they need to use Digital Humanities tools for their own research without requiring a research grant.
The courses are written, planned and run by Subject Librarians at the Taylor Institution Library, one of the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford, and the largest library dedicated to Modern Foreign Languages in the UK. Librarians are ideally placed to teach Digital Humanities, as they combine subject knowledge, expert information management skills and a wide knowledge of other support services. There is currently a gap in the market for introductory level courses for students with an interest in DH, but who have not yet decided to pursue a DH-specific course. Many existing training opportunities are for people who have already secured funding for DH projects, or are showcasing cutting-edge projects, which can be intimidating for beginners. Our interest is in providing students without research grants the opportunity to use digital methods, for free, to enhance their existing studies, and to inspire them to pursue further study in Digital Humanities.
In the Digital Editions course, librarians offer introductory training on text selection, imaging, transcription, xml encoding using TEI (two sessions), quality assurance, preservation and delivery. The aim is to give participants an overview of the main elements of a digitisation project, raising awareness of the issues to be considered (and budgeted for) in funded digitisation projects, and where to seek advice. “Library” skills such as research data management, open access, use of information databases and preservation are taught alongside Digital Humanities skills. The Humanities Coding Club is a weekly peer-support group for anyone teaching themselves to code, as well as anyone with expertise to share. Library staff are offering their support and guidance, and may go on to provide further structured courses in specific areas if there is a clear demand. The Introduction to Digital Humanities course teaches basic principles of data modelling, with practical hands-on activities leading to the creation of databases, visualisations based on statistical analysis, network graphs and geographic visualisations, as well as an introduction to linked data, using SPARQL and wikidata.
The students participating in these courses are the funded researchers of the future, and we feel that by building strong relationships at this early stage, and by teaching library priorities such as the use of standards and preservation, we are creating a strong foundation for future partnerships.
Kirsten Mulrennan (Glucksman Library, University of Limerick, Ireland)
Sinéad Keogh (Glucksman Library, University of Limerick, Ireland)
Short abstract:
This paper examines how library staff used historical Coroner’s Inquest records to develop a new model for teaching library and archive skills to undergraduate students.
Long abstract:
The Glucksman Library runs a series of programmes to support research, teaching and learning at the University of Limerick (UL). The Special Collections and Archives department within the library utilises its unique and distinctive collections to enhance student experience, encouraging ‘hands-on’ learning for students of all types. As a pilot project in the Autumn Semester of 2018, archivist Dr Kirsten Mulrennan and librarian Sinéad Keogh were invited to co-teach a portion of a fourth-year medical history module run by the Department of History. This module was designed to do a number of things at once: educate the students about the importance of archival material; encourage critical thinking about the use of medical records for historical research; demonstrate the potential of digital humanities tools for the exploitation of linked data; and introduce the students to the basic concepts of metadata, text mark-up and the Text-Encoding Initiative (TEI). Working in groups with digitised historic records from the Irish Coroner’s Court held in the National Archives of Ireland, the students produced verbatim archival transcriptions of five records, highlighting linked data elements they felt would be most beneficial for future research – elements such as names, places, organisations, dates, and causes of death. The output from the module demonstrated a high level of student engagement with the process, and feedback from both the faculty and students at the end of the module was incredibly favourable. As a result, this module design will be further developed for the coming academic year. Mulrennan and Keogh have used this experience to build their teaching profile within the university, as well as establish lasting links with the history department. Overall, this project illustrates the diverse ways in which academic libraries can work with faculty as partners in digital humanities to grow graduate information literacies and skills, creatively use technological tools to get both staff and students engaged with historic sources, and ultimately, that the increasing integration of rare books and archival material into the curriculum allows for the continued development of unique academic programmes at UL.
Carlos Alberto Martínez Hernández (Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro)
Rubén Cantor Pérez (Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro)
Short abstract:
The Digital Humanities are the ideal field for librarians to participate, collaborate and cooperate in the generation of new knowledge, as well as being the link to create bridges for students, teachers, and librarians.
Long abstract:
En este artículo tenemos la intención de mostrar nuestras experiencias dentro de la Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, para proponer nuestra metodológica, que hemos desarrollado a lo largo de cuatro años, en donde nos hemos preocupado por planear e impartir a la comunidad universitaria talleres, cursos y conferencias enfocados en el desarrollo de habilidades informativas, Humanidades Digitales y competencias lectoras, cuyo objetivo de éstos es, principalmente, incidir en la formación universal de la comunidad universitaria. En otras palabras: la biblioteca universitaria ha sido el detonador y la precursora de las Humanidades Digitales en la Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro.
Los profesionales de la información deben ser capaces de derrumbar mitos y lugares comunes para poder seleccionar, evaluar y acercar a la sociedad conocimientos con certeza. Sin embargo, esto implica que los bibliotecarios tienen que trabajar en consolidar sus habilidades informacionales, sus saberes, competencias lectoras, entre otros conocimientos.
Nuestra propuesta se enfoca en el fortalecimiento de nuestro personal bibliotecario, sobre todo en lo relacionado a tres grandes rubros: Humanidades Digitales, desarrollo de habilidades informacionales, así como de competencias lectoras. Desde nuestro espacio hemos creado y participado en tres cursos y un taller de humanidades digitales y nuestro principal objetivo es el siguiente: que nosotros, los bibliotecarios podamos pensar de manera distinta, es decir, permitiendo experimentar la forma en que investigamos y enseñamos, y laborar de manera conjunta con otras disciplinas.
Las humanidades digitales son un espacio natural para que los bibliotecarios participen, colaboren y cooperen en la generación de conocimiento. El rol del bibliotecario se está convirtiendo en una profesión con un carácter tanto docente como analista de datos, en la que los formatos digitales tienen como soporte más conocimiento e información progresivamente, que exigen la comprensión de herramientas y técnicas que utilizan, por ejemplo, las humanidades digitales. Los profesionales de la información tienen que convertirse en el vínculo colaborativo para conectar a los alumnos y docentes con el conocimiento en un entorno de investigación y enseñanza.
El papel de los profesionales de la información en el desarrollo y la promoción del contenido de las Humanidades Digitales para la investigación, la enseñanza y el aprendizaje en las bibliotecas académicas actuales es un área que aún no se ha explorado por completo. En este mismo orden de ideas, y para explorar este camino se necesita que los bibliotecarios sean personas alfabetizadas mediáticamente, informacionalmente y tecnológicamente. Estas iniciativas, junto con las ya mencionadas, se han creado e implementado en diversas áreas de la UAQ y se busca incidir en futuras reformas curriculares y en las habilidades y metodologías de los alumnos, profesores y trabajadores de nuestra Universidad.
Michiel Cock (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Ben Companjen (Leiden University Libraries, Netherlands)
Lotte Wilms (KB National Library of the Netherlands)
Short abstract:
In this paper we will present the lessons learned from organizing a set of five full-day training sessions for librarians on Digital Humanities.
Long abstract:
In the fall of 2017 we organized a set of five full-day training sessions on Digital Humanities (DH) for librarians and other cultural heritage organisation in the Netherlands, called the DH Clinics. After our initial poster presentation at DH2017 describing our design process, in this short paper we will address the final programme, its reach and reception, the lessons learned and the impact on DH at research libraries in the Netherlands.
The programme
We had noticed that librarians at our institutions - and at research libraries in the Netherlands in general - who wanted to get involved in DH needed more training to adequately partner with researchers and students in this field. The DH Clinics were intended to facilitate this need for education in DH by organising training events, with the following goals:
We aimed to create a programme that gave librarians a basis in DH from where they can identify remaining gaps in knowledge or skills that could addressed by self-directed learning, to support researchers and (possibly) to (semi-)automate daily library work.
Each DH Clinic consisted of two lectures in the morning (by local researchers) and a hands-on workshop in the afternoon. Each day had its own theme, based on the Taxonomy of Digital Research Activities (TaDiRah), of which we selected the following themes; Capture, Creation, Enrichment, Analysis (text and non-text), hereby covering subjects ranging from digitization to Natural Language Processing and computer vision.
Reach, reception, lessons learned and impact
In this paper we will discuss the following lessons learned:
With this paper we intend to share our experiences with organising the DH Clinics and present an example of how libraries can introduce training to their staff in a non-formal manner.